fowler



Nov. 2, 1948. .1. "r. FOWLER MATERIAL REDUCING APPARATUS PARTICULARLY 2 Sheets-Shet 1 ADAPTED TO REDUCE METAL TURNINGS Filed Oct. 14, 1946 //vvE/ /To/Q, JoHN T FOWLER,

Nov. 2, 1948. J. T. FOWLER 2,453,008

MATERIAL REDUCING APPARATUS PARTICULARLY v ADAPTED TO REDUCE METAL TURNINGS Filed Oct. 14,, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 /N \'/E/v7-o/Q; JOHN T FOWLER /lwd/x/ HTT' Patented Nov. 2, 1948 UNITED I STAT 's PATEN MATERIAL REDUCING APPA ATUS rAis'ric I ULARLY ADAPTED 'ro REDUCE METAL.

John T. Fowler, Columbus,- Ohio, assignor to The Jeffrey Manufacturin of Ohio Application Octoberhi, 1946, Serial No. 703,199

1 Claim. (Cl. 241-452) 1 e I V v My invention relates specifically to apparatu for reducing metal turnings.

The main object of my invention is to provide an improved metal turnings reducing apparatus,

metal turnings and compressing them into a sponge-like mass and while retaining them, so compressed slowly extruding them directly radially to the working periphery of the primary metal turnings reducing drum where the metal turnings are shredded, combed, worked, or otherwise partially reduced and prepared and fed downwardly to the secondary grinder rotor at a speedproportional to the speed of the grinding rotor. I f

Other objects of the, invention will appear hereinafter, the novel features and combinations being set forth in the, appended claim. In the accompanying drawings, 4 f

Fig. 1 is a side View in elevation of the material reducing apparatus embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the material reducing apparatus shown in Fig. 1; and i Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view on a g I Company, a corporation I 2 The discharge opening I3 of the'primary metal turnings reducing mechanism is directly above the feed opening of a secondary metal turnings reducing grinder it that includes a casing or housing I! in which there is mounteda secondary metal turnings reducing rotor carried by a ceives loose metal turnings to be reduced. In

the bottom of the feed hopper IIl there isa conveyer II which co-operates with a second conveyer positioned above it to convey and extrude the metal turnings directly to a rotating primary metal turnings reducing drum, roll or shreddingelement I2 providedwitha plurality of radiallyextending teeth which reduce the ma-. terial by tearing and shredding it. I After being thus worked and reduced, themetal turnings passes downwardly through a discharge opening 13 formed in the bottom of the housing or casing I4 of a primary metal turnings reducing mechanism I5 which includes the primary metal turnings reducingrdrum, roll, or shredding element I2.

shaft I8 driven by a suitable motor, not shown. The metal turnings are finally ground or pulver ized in thegrinder I6 andpass through a dis:

charge opening in its bottom to a suitable con-f veyer or receptacle, not shown. I U u The casing or housing I1 of the grinder IBsupports the housing or casing. I4 of the primary metal turnings reducing mechanism I5 which.

latter casing or housing I4 includes opposite side framefmembers formed of wall plates 19 and angle members 20 that reinforce theplates l9 and form supports for hearings, to be described here: inafter. The bottom 2| of thehousingor casing I4 mergeslwith the top of the housing or casing I! of the grinder l6 and extends downwardly therefrom and forms the bottom of the hopper l0 and cooperates with its side Walls to form a collector for catching oil or other liquid which may drain from the metal turnings above. the conveyer II.

Extending through the wall plates I9 of the housing or casing I4 is a shaft 22 that is carried adjacentits ends in suitable bearings 23 carried by the angle members 20. Shaft 22 extends through and is keyed to the primary metal turningsreducing drum, roll or shredding element I2 for driving it and one end of the shaft 22 carries a pulley 24 which is in alignment witha drive pulley 25 on the rotor shaft I8 of the grinder IS. A belt 26 connects the pulley 24 and drive pulley 25. It will be seen that when the rotorshaft I8 of the grinder I6 is driven by its motor, the shaft 22 thereabove will be driven at a reduced or lower speed. f q

Conveyer II includes a foot shaft that extends between outerside walls of the feed hopper I0 and this shaft is adjustable rectilinearly by a pair of rack and slidebearing mechanisms?! carried by said walls and each carries anend of the shaft. Disposed adjacent the periphery of the primary metal turnings reducing drum,

roll or shredding element l2 and eXtendin Par allel thereto and through thayvall plates Is or the housing or casing I4 is the head or discharge end shaft 28 of the conveyer II which is carried by bearings mounted upon the angle members 20. Theheador discharge end shaft and the foot shaft of conveyer each has keyed thereto a: pairof spaced sprockets, as over which i there each plate 35 is curved adjacent its edges to q operate with its adjacent plates so that as the endless chain belt 3| operates over the sprockets 29 of the head or discharge end shaft 28 and the sprockets of the foot shaft, the surface or bed formed by the co-operating plates 35 will remain completely closed, that is, there will be no openings or spaces formed between the plates into which metal turnings may enter and. jam or otherwise damage the belt. Preferably the plates 35 are provided with projecting lugs 36 that are adapted to become embedded in metal turnings being conveyed by the conveyor H.

The opposite sides of the feed hopper l0 each carries a belt supporting structure in the form of an angle 31 which may be secured to thewalls as by welding and over which the rollers 3-3. of the, spaced chains-3!! operate to support the upper run 38 of the conveyer H. The feed hopper l0 includes inner walls 3d which taper downwardly inwardly from the top of the feed hopper. The inner walls 39 properly place or guide metal. turnings onto the top of the upper run 38 of conveyer ll;

Conveyor It. is an endless belt mechanism. and it co-operateswith asecond endless belt mechanism 40 disposed and pivotally mounted above it to form withit a maw that tapers toward the primary reducing druml2 and in which metal tulrnings -being conveyed are compressed and from which the metal turnings are extruded directly substantially radially to the working peiphery of the primary material reducing drum 1!. With reference to Flgsl and 3 it will be seen that both the upper endless belt mechanism 40 and thelower endless belt conveyor mechanism l i extend generally radially from the axis of the shaft 22 of the primary metal turnings reducing drum l2. It will beobvious from the description hereinafter that the discharge end of the-endless belt mechanism 40 is adjacent the working periphery of the drum l2 and substantially directly above the discharge end of conveyor II and is free to move me generally vertical direction to accommodate and properly compress and hold metal turnings oi diiferent solidity or resiliency other end of the conveyer frame 44 carries a shaft 45 in bearings which are adjustable rectilinearly ofthe frame 44 for adjusting the-tautness of the upper conveyer chain belt 462% The bottom of frame 44 is provided with two'sh-oes upon which the rollers of the conveyer belt ride to maintain the lower run thereof rigid. Shaft 45 is the discharge end shaft of conveyor 40 and like shaft 41 it carries a pair of sprockets over which the chain belt 46 operates. Belt 46 is identical in construction to the belt structure 31 of the lower endless beltconveyer ll except that it is not provided with projecting lugs 36'. Frame-'44 includes a pocket 41 in which there is a weight 48 that may be formed of lead, concrete or the like, the purpose of which is to increase the material compressing action of the upper conveyer mechanism.

Head'shaft 4| of the endless Foelt mechanism 40 and shaft 28 of the lower endless belt mechanism are driven from the shaft 22 of the metal turnings reducing or shredding drum l2 in opposite directions at equal speeds through suitable speed reductlon mechanism. The speed reduction mechanism. includes a large gear 49 secured to the end of shaft 28 which meshes with a pinion gear. 50 on one end of a countershaft 5| that extends throughthe housing or casing l4 and is carried (by bearings on the angle members 20. Shaft 4| carries a large sprocket 52 driven through a chain from a pinion sprocket 53 adjacent the pinion gear so on 'countersh'aft 5|. The speed reduction ratio between the pinion gear 50' and gear 49 is the same as the speed re- 55 whichi's a part of a friction clutch 53 carried upon one end. of the material reducing drum shaft 22'. Clutch 56 is manually engaged. by means ofia cone and lever 51. A removable cover 58. encloses a portion of the top of the housing or casing l4 andc-overs the upper endless belt mechanism 40.

In the operation of the machine loose metal turnings are placed in the hopper It). The clutch 58 is disengaged 'and' the motor is started which drivesthe secondary grinder rotor and the priimary metal turnings reducing drum t2. When the motor has attained its full speedthe clutch 53 is engaged and metal turnings are conveyed slowly to the left from thehopper l '0 toward the primary reducing drum 1 2 by the lower belt 'con- V'eyer' I I. The metal turnings moving toward the reducing drum on the lower conveyer H enter the maw formed by and between the upperand lower conveyor members 40 and H andis compressed to a relatively solid sponge-like mass by the weight of the upper conveyor 40 and'then in effect the metal turn-ings are extruded by the cooperating upper and lower conveyers directly radially to the working periphery of the. rotating metal turnings. reducing drum and, the metal turnings are retained by the co-operatingjconveyers in a compressed condition asit is presented to therotating shredding drum .l 2 for partial reduction thereby. The drum 12 rotates. insuch direction that the material is, torn, ripped, com-bed; worked or shredded downwardly by. the lugs-or teeth of the drum [2 directly over the discharge end of the lower conveyor. 7

It will be seen that the projecting-lugs 3301 the lower con-veyerhave a dual fun-ction namely, that of preventing slippage between the loose metal. turnings being conveyed and that or?v pre venting the free separation or puliingtapartrof the metal turnings as. they areactjeduponby the primary reducing drum l2 at the discharge ends of the upper andlcwer conveyers; It will also be seen that the discharge end of the conveyor H constitutes an anvil or surface upon and over which, material heing reduced; shredded. or combed is worked by the drum l2. s

From the foregoing description itwill beseen that I have provided an improvedtm'etal turnings reducing-apparatuswhich-is adapted'particularly to reduce loose and/or snarled metal turnings of substantially any kind. The upper and lower conveyer mechanisms 01' the apparatus co-operate to form a oonveyer which compresses and ex.- trudes the metal turnings and presents them directly to the primary rotating drum and the conveyer co-operates directly with the drum in reducing, shredding, combing or tearing the material while holding the material in a compressed or relatively solid condition.

The reduction of metal turnings presents a problem different from those encountered for example in the reduction of feed, grain, sugar cane, ensilage and the like because metal turnings tend to snarl into bunches which cannot be successfully unsnarled and reduced by feeders and grinders previously known in the art, since when pulled or comb-ed the entangled strands of metal turnings only tighten the snarl into more compact bunches. My apparatus is successful in reducing metal turnings because the snarled turnings are compressed and while compressed are extruded slowly directly to a material reducing shredding drum that reduces the snarled compressed metal turnings by holding them while a primary reducing element tears, combs, and otherwise reduces them whereupon the partially reduced metal turnings pass or are fed downwardly into the secondary grinder, and these evenly fed unsnarled, broken, or combed metal turnings will not clog the secondary grinder since their rate of feed to the secondary grinder is always proportional to its speed.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claim hereto appended and I wish therefore not to be restricted to the precise construction herein disclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A reducing apparatus particularly adapted to reduce metal turnings including a secondary grinder having a housing providing a top feed opening, a power driven shaft having a secondary grinding rotor thereon carried in. said housing, a primary reducer including a housing carried by said secondary grinder housing and connected to discharge into the top feed opening of said secondary grinder, a primary metal turnings reducing drum element carried within said primary reducer housing above said secondary grinding rotor and driven at a lower speed from the latter,

a hopper, conveyer means forming a tapering maw for conveying and compressing loose metal turnings received from said hopper and extruding them directly substantially radially to the working periphery of said primary metal turnings reducing drum element in a compressed sponge-like condition, said conveyer means including an upper and a lower driven endless belt each having a discharge end disposed closely adjacent the Working periphery of said primary metal turnings reducing drum element, said primary metal turnings reducing drum element rotating in a direction to work the metal turnings directly downwardly over the discharge end of said lower endless belt, means pivotally mounting the upper belt for generally vertical movement of its discharge ings will be extruded slowly directly and generally radially to the working periphery of said primary metal turnings reducing drum element and held in a compressed sponge-like condition by said belts while said primary metal turnings reducing drum element works and tears the end of said compressed metal turnings directly over the end of the lower belt and feeds the shredded and torn metalturnings downwardly through the top feed opening of said secondary grinder to said second ary grinder rotor at a speed proportional to the speed of the latter.

JOHN T. FOWLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 781,511 Froehlich Jan. 31, 1905 1,271,773 Richman July 9, 1918 1,307,761 Shelton June 24, 1919 1,396,108 Gilmore Nov. 8,1921 1,449,510 Holcomb Mar. 27, 1923 1,925,618 Wetmore Sept. 5, 1933 2,005,561 Roscoe June 18, 1935 2,150,984 Nean Mar. 21, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 1,925,394 Holland Sept. 5, 1933 2,042,946 Holland June 2, 1936 671,813 Germany Feb. 15, 1939 

